The UFO phenomena has been with us for a long time. In the Bible
you can read of Ezekiel's encounter with one that he calls a
vision (Ezekiel 1:1). Perhaps it was a vision, perhaps not. If
it was a vision, I find it interesting that Ezekiel could
conceptualize such a flying craft as he described considering the
state of technology available at that time. Nevertheless, we
shall never know if it was in fact a real machine or a vision.
We view stories such as this as myth or legend.
If we were to find some writings from some other ancient and
extinct culture that told of an encounter similar to Ezekiel's;
we probably would not call it 'a fact that lends credibility to
Ezekiel's encounter as something real and not imagined." We
would probably say it was a 'perpetuation of a myth'.
There are many writings and glyphics from ancient civilizations
such as Sumerian, Babylonian, Akkadian, Hittite, Incan and Mayan
that tell of or depict men whose home is in the heavens and the
unusual "boats" or "chariots" they use to travel back and forth
between the Earth and heavens. Is it just coincidence that man
needs to creates these similar myths? Or have these stories
simply been passed along from one civilization to another even
somehow crossing the Atlantic to South America? Or did something
real and physical happen to these civilizations?
There is enough evidence available to support either the myth or
the fact. It all depends on how you want to view the evidence. We
can't provide any definite, indisputable evidence since the
peoples who wrote these stories are no longer with us. So it's up
to each of us, individually, to examine the evidence for
ourselves and reach our own conclusions.
In UFOlogy today, we hear reports that tell us that the UFOs are
controlled by evil, four foot tall, gray skinned aliens who
mutilate cattle and abduct humans. We also hear the UFOs are
piloted by an intelligence that is benevolent and only wants us
to mature and evolve into a higher state of consciousness.
I don't think we could ask for nor create, two more diverse
extremes. These extremes create an umbrella under which all UFO
speculations reside.
Many of us here share a common bond, or, put more precisely, a
common question. That is: what is truth to these UFOs?
One truth I can say with reasonable confidence is that the
majority of people have never had, nor ever will have a true UFO
experience. This is unfortunate because it's always nice to be
able to have a large number of people at your side when you're
trying to prove something. So how does one go about proving the
existence of something as elusive as UFO's?
If you've had a UFO experience, whether good or bad, I'd say
that would probably be a pretty darned good convincer. But is
your experience enough to convince some stranger as to the
reality of UFO's? How would you feel if after having a UFO
encounter you were laughed at by everyone you told? I think it
would take your self esteem down a few notches and I don't think
you would talk about it anymore.
Why are people so prone to laugh at those who claim to have UFO
encounters? I think it's because our society encourages critical
thinking and discourages abstract thought except in the fine arts
where abstract thought is appreciated. There are also people who
will con, rob and cheat you so it's necessary for us to keep our
guard up. Sad commentary, but true.
Part of our society's foundation is built upon science. The
creations of our science permeate almost every aspect of our
lives every day. Our science has a proven track record and it's
been very good to us but because of this, we become more
dependent upon science, elevating it to almost a philosophy. Is
this good or bad? It should be noted that for a couple thousand
years that the Earth was flat and at the center of the solar
system. This was undeniable fact until one day the science of the
times proved it wrong and suddenly the Earth became spherical and
took it's rightful place in the solar system. All this means is
that science can make mistakes and science itself can evolve,
change and mature, and with it, the ideals of mankind.
When we bring all speculations covered by this UFO umbrella
under the lamp of science, what do we have to see? Not much.
The first thing science will do is to clean up these suppositions
by throwing out the ones our science can't deal with. The first
casualty will be the space brothers theory. Sorry, but there's no
room for it within our science. But is this proper? From the
viewpoint of our science, yes, no doubt about it. From the
viewpoint of UFOlogy in general, no, it's not fair, but that's
just the way it is.
It's just possible that our present science may be flawed, but
it's all we've got right now. Currently there are things going on
in the world of quantum mechanics and the implications read like
science fiction! But the science we have right now, today, is all
we've got and it is through this science we must rely to help us
solve the UFO mystery.
So although there are many "theories" about UFOs, the only ones
our science can deal with are the ones that are real, physical
and tangible and this is where we must get our science to
investigate. If we can get science to prove the existence of
UFOs, then score one for us. And there's always the possibility
that science will discover something that will help it change its
way of thinking and open up new realms to things which today are
laughed at.
Science seems to be governed by the process of natural selection.
What doesn't work dies, what does, prospers.
No matter what ones personal beliefs are, we must all encourage
science to continue to discover itself, to continue to evolve.
Because the truth is, as science evolves, so do we. I feel that
someday the things we call paranormal will all be explained by
science; but not the science we're familiar with today. I hope
that I'm around to see it.
Paul Faeder